Metal cigar-box



M. BAYUK.

METAL CIGAR BOX.

APPLICATION man MAR. 26, 1920.

Patented Nov. 22, 1921.

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. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

METAL CIGAR-BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 22, 1921.

Application filed March 26, 1920. Serial No. 368,821.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, lllnrrn Baron, a citi- Zen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Metal Cigar-Boxes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

Owing to the scarcity of wood suitable for the manufacture of cigar boxes, manufacturers of cigars have ditficulty in securing an adequate supply of boxes, and efforts have been made to supplant the wooden boxes with metallic boxes. lVhen, however, such boxes are constructed and shaped si1nilarly to the ordinary wooden box, the flexibility of their walls .is such that, in ordinary hard usage, in transit, and during handling by the manufacturer, jobber and retailer, the compression strains to which they are subjected more or less distort them. Especially are the points of the cigars apt to break due to longitudinal compression of the cigars between the front and rear walls, It is becoming, therefore, to a limited extent, customary with some manufacturers, to pack one or more brands of their cigars in cylindrical metallic containers. This shape of package, however, does not meet with favor among most consumers, who prefer the conventional shape and style of box, which allows the cigars to be removed more readily and with less friction one upon another. Moreover, mere long continued usage of the conventional type of box operates very strongly in its favor, in the trade and among consumers.

It is the object of my invention to produce a metal cigar box of conventional shape and style, which, however, will not be open to the objections to metallic boxes as heretofore constructed, and which, nevertheless, can be produced comparatively cheaply.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of the complete box.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the box.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the box body with cigars indicated therein, in dotted lines.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view of the hinged connection between the lid.

The box lid. The l) b, a, front 0 and rear (Z. The bottom, front and rear may be formed of a single piece suitably bent into shape and the separate ends may be secured into ing or otherwise. The upper edges of the front and ends should be bent inwardly and downwardly to form smooth reinforced edges. The upper edge of the rear wall is bent outward and downward and is cut away at intervals, to portions 6 not cut away being bent upward and inward to form pockets to hold the pintle g of a hinge.

The lid Z may be made of a. single piece with downwardly bent flanges along its four edges. The rear edge is cut away at intervals, the portions f not cut away being bent back upon itself and positioned between the cut-away portions 0 of the rear d of the body to form, like the latter, pockets embracing the pintle g. Thereby the lid is brought into hinged relation with the body.

Extending between the front and rear walls is a vertical partition 7L having flanges 2' extending parallel to, and in contact with, the front and rear walls respectively of the box body. I prefer to bend one of these flanges in one direction and the other in the other direction and to make each flange of such length as to extend half way along the box and nearly or quite contact with the corresponding end wall of the box body. When these oppositely extending flanges are made each of a length approximately half the length of the box, the partition, when inserted, divides the box into two equal compartments.

A flanged partition constructed as described, or with such variation therefrom as a particular box maker or cigar manufacturer may desire, operates to so reinforce the front and rear walls of the box that no ordinary compressive force exerted on either wall will appreciably distort such wall or the flanges 2'. Thereby the cigars will be protected as certainly as with the use of an ordinary cigar box.

y providing a partition and reinforcements for the front and rear wall of a single piece so shaped that all that is required, to incorporate it in the box, is to slip it into position, without soldering or other fastening expedient, the cost of material and labor body and comprises a body and a hinged ody comprises a bottom a, ends position by solderlines in Fig.

required in excess of that needed to make a conventionally shaped box is reduced to a minimum. Indeed the total cost of the box is so small that cigars may be placed therein and sold by the box at the same price as if they box. Moreover, the consuming purchaser of cigars by the box will have on hand a receptacle of permanent value and utility.

I prefer to pack the cigars in the box in two bundles, each bundle being embraced by a band 3 This band will not supplant the individual cigar band and may be perfectly plain; or it may contain the trade-mark of the manufacturer.

The flanges 71 on the partitionh will retain the partition normal to the bottom a, while the flanges 2' will prevent the movement of either end of the artition in one direction about an axis at the junction of the flange and the partition at the opposite end, if the box should be subjected to a crushing strain at the front or rear. \Vhen cigars are packed in the box as indicated in dotted 3, the cigars on the opposite sides of the partition will retain the partition in a plane parallel to the ends I) of the box and normal to the front and back, and in the position in which the partition is best adapted to resist crushing stresses which would tend to break the cigars packed in the box.

Pivoted to one end wall of the body is av lever m having at its end a hook n adapted,

were packed in the ordinary wooden when the lever is swung up and the lid suitably positioned, to enter a slot 0 in the lid. The lid may then be slightly dropped and will be held in an upwardly inclined position by the hook. Thereby the box is adapted for display purposes. 7

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A package comprising an outer thin sheet metal box having a bottom, a front wall, a rear wall, end walls and a lid, a removable transverse sheet metal partition and a straight reinforcing member extending from front to back of the box, substantially parallel to the ends of the box, said partition having a flange at each end, the one flange ex tending along the front of the box, while the other extends along the back of the box, said flanges maintaining the partition in an upright position, and cigars in the box on both sides of the partition, said cigars extending parallel to the partition and maintaining the partition normal to the front and back of the box, so that said partition will be maintained in a position to exert its maximum resistance against the front andback of the box to prevent inward bending of the front and back of the box, and thereby protect the cigars against longitudinal crushing.

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand, at Philadelphia, Penna, on this 24th day of March, 1920.

MEYER BAYUK. 

